


Homecoming

by TheAmazingOntos



Series: Change [3]
Category: No Fandom
Genre: Magic Revealed, Mild Language, POV First Person
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-07
Updated: 2020-10-07
Packaged: 2021-03-07 17:27:39
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 720
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26881414
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheAmazingOntos/pseuds/TheAmazingOntos
Summary: The inevitable result of disappearing for a year
Series: Change [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1960861





	Homecoming

After only three days of rehabilitation for my newly healed body (hydromancers are awesome, by the way), I finally get to leave the hospital, and try to figure out what my life is now.

"A whole year, lost," I murmur to myself, walking through the gates. "A whole year with magic, in the hands of all kinds of people. This definitely isn't the same world I used to know."

As I make my way home, I begin to sort through the tangle of information I was given by my nurse. I know that I am an umbramancer, having spectacularly displayed that ability while I was dying on Change day.

Change day. The day that marked the return of magic, after a nine hundred year hiatus. The day that ordinary people gained extraordinary abilities. The day that massive chunks of the population died, either directly or indirectly, at the hands of incipient mages with vast amounts of power and no control. The day that Changed the world. 

I also found out about umbramancy, also known as shadow magic. I have the ability to manipulate shadows, turning them into solid objects, so long as that object has the same surface area as the shadow. I've been told that I should be able to cloud a person's mind, but the only mind that seems to be clouded is my own. I should be able to step into a shadow and escape notice, and even step out of a different one like... magic (I really shouldn't be so sceptical, but I've missed out on all the magic), but I can't even begin to figure that one out.

The State Mage's Aptitude Registration Test (S.M.A.R.T., something whoever named the test wasn't) also identified me as being an artificer. Artificers are basically magical engineers, from what I understand. We can build magical items, including golems(basically a magic creature made by people, as opposed to the naturally occurring magical creatures(what the hell!)) and enchanted items. I mentally set this aside for now as I get closer to home.

I arrive in Chaguanas, my home town, and notice that there are a lot less people around. Which makes sense, when you consider what happened during the year I was... indisposed. Firstly, the Change day violence and accidents with magic immediately after took a toll on the population. Then, the survivors had to come to terms with the return of supernatural creatures who thought humans were best for dinner, and left for places they thought would be safer.

Lastly, and relatively recently at only three months ago, a newly emerged South American bloc of countries attempted to absorb the Caribbean into their control. Only through intervention by the United States and the United Nations did we all escape that particular mess. We voluntarily became unincorporated territories of the United States, and a mass exodus ensued as people headed for greener pastures. 

Finally, I reach my house, and I can tell that my family doesn't live there anymore. There are no horse sized dogs(they're not actually horse sized, but they're big) trying to knock me down or chew my leg off. Also, the front yard is clear of tools and vehicle parts, meaning that my brother hasn't been around for a while. No children's toys mean that my niece didn't live there either. My sister in law wouldn't stay there if they weren't around, and she wouldn't let her plants die either.

I climb over the front gate, and walk around the side to go up the stairs to my part of the house. At the security gate in front of my door, I find the lock cut and beginning to rust. I'm in too much shock to think about what I might find inside. Or actually, what I don't find. All of my belongings are long gone(GODDAMNIT!) and I'm suddenly struck with the fact that I'm broke, got no home and have nobody to turn to.

"Ha, ha ha ha, ha ha, you dumbass. You've lived this already. You've been homeless and broken, and you never asked for help before. Don't start freaking out and get some sleep, you can fix this tomorrow," I say to myself, no longer worried about what happened, as I have something I can control, finally.


End file.
